ATLANTA – At least from an Alabama perspective, this game was always going to be about one, if not two, players in particular.

Blake Sims received the nod as Alabama's starting quarterback over Jake Coker just a few hours before kickoff Saturday and answered the call well, completing 24-of-33 passes for 250 yards along with one interception in a 33-23 season-opening victory over West Virginia.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the guy," right tackle Austin Shepherd said. "He pretty much just gets in the huddle and he is ready to go. I kept telling him no matter what happens, we got your back. Don’t worry you know the playbook, we got your back.”

Despite moments where it appeared Coker might come into the game to split reps, Sims, making his first start at quarterback in his fifth and final season at Alabama, took every snap on offense until the final drive when Coker handed the ball off twice to run out the clock.

Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said going no-huddle helped settle Sims down into the game after some early play-calling issues.

"In the second quarter, Blake got a little bit rattled, all right, and I told Jake, I said, 'Get loosened up. If he doesn't settle down, we're going to have to put you in the game,'" Saban said. "It wasn't in his play. He called a couple formations wrong in the huddle, he called a couple plays wrong. We had to burn a couple time‑outs. We went down to one on the shot clock a couple times. There was confusion on the field. That's when I said to Lane, I said, 'Hey, let's just go no‑huddle and it'll make it a lot simpler for him,' and when we did that, he sort of got it back together and then he was fine after that.

"... but I thought Blake did a really good job."

Griffith, Scott shine in first starts

Sims was not the only first-time starter who had a solid outing in his debut on Saturday.

On special teams, sophomore kicker Adam Griffith and freshman punter JK Scott were two of the Crimson Tide's biggest stars against the Mountaineers.

After struggling on A-Day but performing well in August scrimmages, Griffith was 4-for-4 on field goals with a long of 47 yards.

"We've always had a lot of confidence in Griff," Saban said. "There were times last year when we thought about him being the kicker, but we've always had a lot of confidence in him. I think he's got confidence. I think making four kicks tonight gives him confidence."

Scott, a Denver native, had only two punts but made an impression immediately, booming his first punt 62 yards, where it was downed inside the West Virginia 10-yard line.

When asked about the punting competition last week, Saban praised Scott.

"He's separated himself. He's the best punter we have," he said. "I mean, have you seen him punt?"

Defense struggles against no-huddle offense

As many yards of offense as Alabama had of its own against West Virginia, it also gave up a lot, too.

West Virginia put up 393 yards of total offense, including 365 yards through the air from quarterback Clint Trickett. According to Saban, part of the reason was due to two new starters at linebacker – junior Reggie Ragland and sophomore Reuben Foster – with little previous game experience. Senior linebacker Trey DePriest was forced to sit out of Saturday's game due to a minor NCAA violation.

"Defensively, we didn't respond very well to not having the kind of leadership out there with two new guys that never started a game before playing linebacker," Saban said. "We didn't play the gap fits very well on the runs, and we didn't execute the pressures like we were supposed to and had a lot of mental errors."

In addition to Trickett, running back Rushel Shell rushed for 38 yards on 10 carries and wide receiver Kevin White caught nine passes for 143 yards and one touchdown to lead all receivers.

"We just have to get familiar with the game plan and we just missed on some of the personal packages, but we got the win, so that is all that matters," junior safety Landon Collins said. "We had a game plan coming in and it didn’t quite work but in the second half we settled down."

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